An Investigation On Growth Behaviour of Mycelium in A Fabric Formwork

AN INVESTIGATION ON GROWTH BEHAVIOUR OF MYCELIUM
IN A FABRIC FORMWORK
GULAY ELBASDI AND SEMA ALAÇAM

Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
[email protected] | [email protected]
Abstract. Most progress in designing mycelium-based material to

date has been made by using petri dish and 3d printed geometries. In
this study, reshaping capabilities of mycelium-based materials using
fabric formwork is being discussed. This ongoing study is the result of
a series of experiments about mycelium-based material that aims to
investigate its potentials as free- form geometry. In this paper, we aim
to make a comparison between initial and end shapes by implementing
digital and analogue tools based on mycelium-based fabric formwork
experiment. The physical experiment setup consists of different initial
geometry alternatives and the deformation will be observed and
measured numerically by time-based recording on top and section
views. With the help of digital tools, experiments will be documented
as a process of formation. We aim to discuss the potential of the usage
of mycelium as a binding agent in free form geometry since mycelium
acts as natural self-assembling glue. By doing so, structural potentials
of the material, which is strengthened by mycelium hyphae, were
examined. This study aims to contribute to the design research studies
and scientific knowledge together to integrate living systems into the
material design as encouraging collaborative interdisciplinary
research, thereby positioning designer as a decision-maker from the
very beginning of material design process.
1. Introduction
The introduction of experimental research into the discipline of architecture

also shifts the nature of physical workspace. Nowadays, architects are
engaged in experimental tasks such as to prototyping, simulating and testing
in design process (Ng, 2013). Acknowledging the recent interest of
architects in the design and the customization of material composites, Picon
(2010) questions, “Should designers themselves invest in material design
instead of relying on the research of others?” In recent years, this question
66 G. ELBASDI AND S. ALAÇAM
raised by Picon in 2010 is being answered by the uptrends in material design

studies conducted by artists, designers and architects.
It is possible to claim that Biology has higher impact on design research
and material technology than other sciences. In particular, nature inspired
design (NID) has generally been deemed as the state of art in the field of
design research. However, NID is usually associated with mimicking the
nature in a phenomenological manner, which leads to a reductive
interpretation of nature in behavioral manner.
According to Collet (2013), “Hierarchy of possible relationships with
nature, and designers are grouped around 5 themes.” The first group, The
Plagiarists, lean on nature for inspiration and new solutions. Similar to
nature inspired design, they work with biomimicry principles, imitating
process or behavior found in the natural world, but working with man-made
and digital technologies. The approach of the second group, The New
Artisans, takes nature as collaborator. They are working with bees, fungi,
bacteria, algae or plants and developing new techniques to grow and craft
consumer goods. Collet (2013) describes such relationship similar to
gardening and farming. Third group, The Bio-Hackers, try to envisage how
the products and interfaces evolve to be by using engineered living
organisms in the future. They collaborate with synthetic biologists. The
designers among the Bio-Hackers integrate Computer Aided Design (CAD)
and digital fabrication technologies and they seek embedding mycelium into
their processes. Fourth, to create hybrid environment and organisms; the
New Alchemists are designers, architects and artists who explore the
merging of biology, chemistry, robotics and nanotechnology. Last, The
Agent-Provocateurs explores a provocative far future and encourages a
debate around ethical issues related to living technology and high-tech
sustainability.
There are several reasons why bio-based materials become widespread.
First, opportunities to reach the material easily and cheaply. Second,
potentials to be modelled by dynamic computational approaches. Within the
domain of bio-based materials, composites with ductile matrix and high-
strength reinforcement give the opportunity to design a material for a
particular use at low cost (Mallick, 2008). What we call bio-based material is
herein defined as: “a material of which one or more of its components are
sustainably grown and are fully renewable”. Latest studies in bio-based
material design depict that the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a
network of fine white filaments, the mycelium, could be an alternative for
these matrices.
However, the existing uses of mycelium-based materials as well as
physical and digital modelling of fabric formworks, mostly obtained from
academic literature and artists’ works. Moreover, there is an inspiration
coming from synthetic biology (synbio) which could be an avant-garde
AN INVESTIGATION ON GROWTH BEHAVIOUR OF MYCELIUM 67
collaborator to art, architecture and design. Current researches at the

intersection of synbio and design have shifted interdisciplinary
collaborations and brought synthetic biologists and designers together in
order to construct new biological parts, materials, and systems.
Analyzing the integral relationship between the design of the fabric
formwork and emerging mycelium geometries structures the core of this
study by exposing a latent relation between material design and biological
design. Furthermore, this paper presents a case study which aims to
understand shaping capabilities of mycelium-based materials by using form-
finding techniques and experimenting with fabric formwork in order to be
able to create re-shapeable products.
2. Related Works on Mycelium and Fabric Forming Studies
Apart from the above, there are artists and designers who are carrying on
their living matter-integrated studies on their own.
As the field of designing bio-based materials is becoming a wide research
area that Lelivelt et al., (2015), a group of researchers from Structural
Design unit of Eindhoven University of Technology, published a research
work on ‘the production process compressing strength of mycelium based
materials’. It is possible to claim that their study is based on the experience
of microbiologists, designers and local spawn producers. According to
Lelivelt et al., (2015), the process to create mycelium based materials
consists of six steps which are shown in Figure 3.7. The first four steps are
needed to be followed to cultivate mycelium and the last two are to make the
mycelium a material. Substrate could be straw, coffee ground, hemp and
sawdust. Due to the attribute that fungi is able to digest cellulose into
glucose while other organisms cannot, cellulose-rich environment is
preferred when growing fungi to avoid contamination by other organisms
(Wösten, 2014). One of the advantages of using cellulose-rich environment
is that at the molecular level, many natural fibers and wood-like materials
are a composite of rigid-high strength cellulose embedded in a lignin matrix,
so high cellulose content predicts high tensile strength (Faruk, et al., 2012)
(Satyanarayana, Arizaga and Wypych 2009). A high tensile strength expects
a high mechanical performance of the composite as the substrate reinforces
the material (Mallick 2008).
In the experiments, spores of mycelium – spawn- were inoculated into
sawdust which was composed of nutritional substrate, cellulose. During the
growth, they condensed and dehydrated the substrate until they colonize
fully in the mold. It should be noted that those experiments were not held in
a very well-controlled and sterilized lab environment, therefore the process
and the results might have been affected by other known and unknown
factors as well.
Figure 1. Schema of mycelium-based material production process (Lelivelt et al., 2015).
3. Case Study: Computability of Mycelium-based Material Through

Physical Form Finding
3.1. EXPERIMENT SET-UP AND CONSTRAINTS
Materialization of mycelium takes time since mycelia need to grow on

substrate, so the overall process takes considerable time. Mycelium mixture
is mainly composed of substrate and mycelia spawn. In this study, sawdust
was used as substrate material.
To use flexible formwork for physical form finding obligates designer to
cope with constructional constraints of formwork and deformation at the
flexible parts of the formwork after loading the material. Therefore, physical
models are subject to constraints such as geometry of the formwork and
properties of the materials that are used to build the formwork.
To compare initial - final and predicted – unpredicted forms that are
derived from physical experiment, a form-active membrane that can be
manipulated by the designer in digital medium is needed to be developed.
To create a computational model in digital environment that depicts exact
behavior of analogue model is still an uncharted issue.
TABLE 1. The flow chart for applying MbM in the fabric formwork.
Designing formwork structure in digital medium
Assembling the fabric formwork:

Developing fabric mold + building framework
Preparing mycelium mixture
Casting: pouring mycelium mixture into fabric mold
Waiting for mycelium growth in mold
Unmolding: removing the fabric mold
Baking
Testing structural qualities of final product
3.3. EXPERIMENTATION
We started our experiment with a set-up which has two different tension
conditions and observed the material and growth of mycelium for one week.
In the first experiment; form-finding based on material properties and
behavior is aimed to be investigated. To observe the behavior of MbM in
fabric formwork, a set of adjustable mold, which is composed of two free
hanging fabrics, was designed. In addition, the author can manipulate the
boundary conditions of the fabric, which means that the author can decide at
which locations of the fabric is supported and in what directions these
supports are fixed. In other words, the designer wishes to determine the
final, resulting shape from elastic deformation (Veenendaal and Block,
2012). The anticipated form-finding situations after the adjustments of the
author on the support heights are presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Graphical representation of physical form finding and anticipated form that MbM
could take.
The first free-hanging fabric is respectively stretched from the horizontal

supports and it is gradually released from the supports (Figure 3). The
second free-hanging fabric is draped from the horizontal supports at first and
it is gradually released from there. In both situations, mycelium mixture is
placed onto the single layer of fabric, and correspondingly, the fabric
deforms with the additional load. As the time passes by, in right conditions,
mycelia start to grow and expand its network. As more mycelia grow, the
material gets harder. This emergent behavior of mycelia is similar to the
process during which plaster solidifies through dehydration.
Figure 3. Free hanging fabric formwork set up.

By observing the material behavior in the first experiment (Figure 4), we

came up with the idea that MbM can act as a re-shapeable material thanks to
its living matter ingredient, the mycelia.
Figure 4. Form finding situations in five phase: (a) initial phase of free hanging fabrics, (b)
superposition of initial phase and first phase –form after loading MbM, (c) superposition of
second phase and first phase, (d) superposition of third phase and second phase, (e)
superposition of third phase and fourth phase.
Next, a set of casting experiment is prepared as an adjustable mold which

designer cannot manipulate its boundary conditions from the edges but the
surface of the fabric itself. To do this, a point set-up which has individual
probes that can be detachable. The experiment executed to experiment
becoming of MbM fabric formwork was pre-stressed through the
combination of mechanical pre-stress of the fabric (in-plane) and MbM
pressure (normal-to-plane). The general sequence of this method is as
follows: A piece of fabric is homogeneously stretched over laser-cut
plexiglass and wooden probes which are placed vertically (Figure 5). Then,
mycelium mixture is placed onto the fabric (Figure 6). The fabric deforms
with the additional load. Since we have the knowledge of as more mycelia
grow, the material gets hardened day by day. Once the first mycelia pattern
get visible, two of the probes are detached each day and the fabric is
weakens at those points which results in unpredictable displacement of MbM
in section view. This displacement curve of the material which is recorded
by camera will display the limits of the material dependent on time
constraint.
It should be noted that those experiments were not held in a very well-
controlled and sterilized lab environment, therefore the process and the
results might have been affected by other known and unknown factors as
well.
TABLE 2. Materials used in the experiment.
Technique to
Form- Form- Way to
Material of the handle the
active active stabilize the Reinforcement
shell rigidizing
structure typology mold
material
Mycelium
Stretchy
spawn (infected single Stretched later
panty casting sawdust
wheat grains), layer on overstressed
fabric
sawdust
Figure 5. Point model set up.
Figure 6. Point model set up section view.

4. Outcomes and Discussion
Methods that have been applied to actualize a form are usually experienced
at the end of a design process. However, the study aims to obtain inter-
relation between analog and digital design techniques through
experimentation in order to examine form-taking potentials of the material.
This aim was obtained through design by research approach which was
led the author to focus on the process of materialization and formation rather
than resulting shape. In addition, another aim was to understand whether the
emergence of forms can be foreseen while working with living materials by
applying analogue and digital form-finding methods. In this case, the
becoming of form cannot be anticipated and digitalized in a perfect sense
without working with materials.
For future work, physical testing of the final shape which was achieved
by experimentation and applying Finite Element Analysis methods to digital
model are can be the next step of this study.
References
COLLET, C., 2013. Reader in Textile Futures. Central Saint Martins College of Arts and
Design, University of the Arts. London: Longman.
FARUK, O., ANDRZEJ, B., FINK, H.P,,& SAIN M. 2012. Biocomposite reinforced with
natural fibers: 2000-2010. Progress in polymer science 37 (2012): 1552-1596.
LELIVELT, R., LINDNER, G., TEUFFEL, P., LAMERS, H., 2015. The Production Process
and Compressive Strength of Mycelium Based Materials, First International Conference
on Bio-based Building Materials, Clermont-Ferrand, 2015.
MALLICK, P. K., 2008. Fiber-reinforced composites; Materials, Manufacturing and Design.
CRC Press.
MONTALTI, M. 2014. Interview by R. Lelivelt. Interview: mycelium in design (April 29,
2014).
NG., R. 2013. Essay: Speculations of Future Materiality. Performative Materials in
Architecture and Design. Eds. Rashida Ng and Sneha Patel. Bristol: Intellect.
PICON, A. 2010. Digital Culture in Architecture: An Introduction for the Design Professions,
Basel, Birkhauser Architecture.
SATYANARAYANA, K G., GREGORIO G.C.A, AND FERNANDO W., 2009.
"Biodegradable composites based on lignocellulosic fibers - An overview." Progress in
polymer science, 2009: 982-1021.
VEENENDAAL, D., BLOCK, P., 2012. Computational Form-finding of Fabric Formworks:
An Overview and Discussion. Ohr, J. et al. (Editors). Proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on Flexible Formwork. Bath, UK, 368-378.
WÖSTEN, H., 2014. interview by R. Lelivelt. Interview: Alternate mycelium applications
(May 1, 2014).

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AN INVESTIGATION ON GROWTH BEHAVIOUR OF MYCELIUM

GULAY ELBASDI AND SEMA ALAÇAM

Abstract. Most progress in designing mycelium-based material to

The introduction of experimental research into the discipline of architecture

raised by Picon in 2010 is being answered by the uptrends in material design

collaborator to art, architecture and design. Current researches at the

2. Related Works on Mycelium and Fabric Forming Studies

Figure 1. Schema of mycelium-based material production process (Lelivelt et al., 2015).

3. Case Study: Computability of Mycelium-based Material Through

3.1. EXPERIMENT SET-UP AND CONSTRAINTS

Materialization of mycelium takes time since mycelia need to grow on

Designing formwork structure in digital medium

Assembling the fabric formwork:

Preparing mycelium mixture

Casting: pouring mycelium mixture into fabric mold

Waiting for mycelium growth in mold

Unmolding: removing the fabric mold

Testing structural qualities of final product

The first free-hanging fabric is respectively stretched from the horizontal

Figure 3. Free hanging fabric formwork set up.

By observing the material behavior in the first experiment (Figure 4), we

Next, a set of casting experiment is prepared as an adjustable mold which

TABLE 2. Materials used in the experiment.

Figure 5. Point model set up.

Figure 6. Point model set up section view.

4. Outcomes and Discussion

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